That Was The Weak That Was...

Erm, well like a week really.

Definately a week of high's and lows. Starting with the big low. My bosses father unfortunately passed away on Thurday morning after suffering a second stroke. My boss came into the office that morning saying things didn't look good. And sure enough 30 minutes later his mobile rang. Unfortunately as we share an office there's not a lot of provacy, and he's too polite to tell me to "piss off" so he picked up his mobile and wandered to the empty office next door.

Sure enough he came back in about 10 minutes later and all he said was "I'm going to go home". Now I knew as soon as his phone rang what was going to happen yet in the 10 minutes he was out the office I couldn't work out what to say to him. Even when he came back in all I could reply was "Fine, no problem." Awkward doesn't begin to cover it. He returned to the office today and was slightly less akward now that he's starting to talk about it, but I've generally tried to avoid starting that particualr conversation. My only concern is that it might be seen as dis-interest on my part.

What makes it even more akward is that his wife is due to give birth tomorrow actually to there second child. So we'll be losing him to paternity leave shortly as well. This tends to be a happier topic of conversation, but there are moments where I catch a look of fear in his eye when he talks about.

I'be been rather impressed with myself this week on the amount of fitness trainingI've managed to do. As well as the cycling circuits I managed on Wednesday, I attended two, 3 hour sessions of T'ai Chi this week. The first was on Thurday night which is my usual training night. But there was also an extra session on saturday morning as well.

This session gather's together students and their teachers from all over the leeds area (inc. Huddersfield) so it's quite a gathering. I really enjoyed it. The class seems so diffrent when there is about 40 people, rather than the 8 we usually get on a Thursday night. Our instructor was the guy who I've come to call Yoda on these pages. I can definately say my fitness has improved since starting these classes. From what looks very easy on the outside, it's amazing how hard you work when it's done properly. For example, try walking across a room while taking a single breath. The 'in' breath should be continuous for about 15 seconds and then the outbreath should last for the same amount of time. At the moment I can control an 'in' breath for 11 seconds and an out breath for 18 seconds.

And to top all that off I cleaned my enitre house from top to bottom on Saturday afternoon! Go me. I must admit I had let it slide a little, but things are all spick and span(ish) again. Needless to say I was total shagged (technical term) by Saturday evening. So I treated myself to some of those huge Cookies from Tesco's and sat down and watched a DVD Saturday evening. For those of you who are interested I watched Munich for the first time. I would recommend it, but I'm still slightly unsure as to the ending.

Sunday saw me decide to go shopping in Leeds. To cut out the problems of hunting for a car parking space I decided to take the train. Those of you have been to Micklefield station, know it is basically 2 small platforms with a bus shelter on each. The train was supposed to arrive at 10:12 it still hadn't arrive by 10:32 and all I got when ringing National Rail enquires was the automated message "Signal problems between York and Leeds" Eventually I gave up waiting and decided to drive in after all

I offered a lift to the only other person on the platform. We'd only exchanged a few words, but I felt I should offer her the chance as she was trying to make a connection at Leeds. What I didn't expect was that she'd accept! So we walked back to my house and I gave her a lift all the way to leeds station. Considering we'd only spoken a few words of exasperation on the platform, we got on quite well, having a continuous conversation all the way to Leeds station. At one point we got talking about friends and I mentioned about meeting most of you guys on the net.

She asked how it was I could go out and meet total strangers that I'd only ever met and could trust them not to be "completely nuts" as she put it. I had to smile, but I held back my comment about the fact that she'd accepted a lift from a complete stanger and we hadn't even exchanged names until we were half way back to my house. I dropped her off at the station and seh said she hoped that she "would like to bump into me again". It was nice getting to know her it's a shame I don't know where she lives and how to contact her. Who know's maybe we'll bump into each other again.

Do I have that much faith in fate? We'll see!

We're Surrounded Sarge.

"Don't worry men we'll fight them to the last!"

Well after lull where I thought I'd chased them out of the house. They're back! And this time they are bigger than ever. That's right I'm currently in the middle of the second spider invasion of the year. My tally for the last 2 days is 4 and each one has been of the long legged variety that come into my "freakin huge man" catagory.

I hate to say it, but I'm still exercising a "kill on site" policy, especially with these speedy buggers. If I didn't I very much doubt I would eb able to sleep at night knowing something like that was scuttling around my room. In fact I've caught 2 in my bedroom, 1 in the hall outside my bedroom and one ran out from underneath the couch I'm currently sitting on.

If I was the paranoid type, I would be wondering what mackes me more attractive to arachnids, rather than to members of my own species.

In other news... er... nothing much really. I went out cycling this evening and did circuits up and down the nearby hill (it was too foggy) to go to far. In fact now I come to think about it, it's been almost perpetual fog around here for the last few days. I live in a sort of valley and every morning and evening this week, I've driven out of the fog to work. Then, I've had to come down one side of the valley, back into the fog to get home again.

Maybe the government is doing genetic experiments on spdiers under the cover of the fog?

My Departed Parting!

There's always the same problem with a blog. How can you update it when there's nothing to update it with? I got my wish. My weekend was lovely and peaceful, with no rushing around, stressful phonecalls and not even a burnt piece of toast to remind me of work. I think the most exciting thing was probably the fact that I got my hair cut!

Don't laugh, this is a big event for me nowadays. Due to the fact that my hair is growing backwards, I go to the barbers less and less these days. This was also the first visit that didn't require them to cut my fringe, mainly due to the fact that it no longer exists. *sob*

Maybe I should post it's Epitaph:-

Andrew Ellis' Fringe
1980-2006 Aged 26
Gone, but not forgotten.
He is still with us, in our hearts &
on my driving license!
No wig will ever replace him.

I just I keep enough of it to gain some grey hairs. I've always wondered what I'd look like with grey hair and I'm hoping some of it stays around long enough to change colour.

On the subject of hair, do you know what really annoys me. Razor adverts! Being forced into using a manual razor has meant they now piss me off more than usual. The advert shows the razor gliding over some blokes face with no resistance whatsoever and then brags about how good it is. The reason it was so easy was the fact that blokes face had been waxed and polished before the advert. Either that or Gillette has a genetics program that allows them to breed genetically hairless men. It was probably an offshoot of the program to breed kittens for people allergic to cats!

Eitherway he had no stubble and therefore was in no need of a shave. I situation I would gladly like to be in. I'm sure my chin is missing 1/2 inch somewhere from that razor of mine.

Anyway maestro drumroll please.

[/drumroll]

I came across this the other day while cleaning up the files on my laptop. This is the first anime music video I ever made. This was when I was at uni and had the time to sit down and compose such things. It's depressing song I know, but if you ever watched the anime it was based on (quite apt really as it was about young girls discovery of herself on the internet!) then you'd understand how well the song fits the anime.

Enjoy: ~

5 Day Stretch

I'm back, finally. Well to be honest I've been back for a few days, but I haven't really been "all here" if you know what I mean! But like all good stories we'll start at the beginning. I always find it's the best way. Although one of these days I promise I'll tell you a story that begins at the end.

As I mentioned on Tuesday there was a last minute decision to send me upto Scotland to fix some problems at a new job. This is probably my single biggest grudge with my job. When things don't get planned correctly it's usually muggins here that goes out to pick up the pieces. Such was the case with this job. I know of at least one other job that due to planning problems will require me to go out again. But I've got a bit more warning about this one, mainly due to the fact that it means I'll be out in France for a fortnight!

Anyway, back to Scotland, to a place near High Blantyre (just South of Glasgow. It was one of those annoying jobs, other people haven't done there jobs properly, I go up there and they just leap out at you immediately. A lot of it is technology that's new to the UK and it's all about getting it rght now, before we have to install lot's of this technology in the next few years. Environmental regs are tightening up and technology has to be added to at least 50% of all sites to bring them into line.

So I got back from Scotland on Friday, upset everyone with my report, before heading off to my weekend training course with the ATC. It was the BASIC instructors course which all 18 year cadets need to take and is recommended for most instructors. The course ran from Friday evening to Sunday evening, covering everything from Abuse, Drug to Duty of Care.

It was a decent course and one I have to take before I apply to become a uniformed member of staff. There were 4 adult instructors and 10 cadets on the course and there were other courses on which meant that the total number of cadets was 140. The cadets were aged 14-18 and under strict restrictions. Thankfully there were fewer restrictions on staff, which makes giving up a weekend for the course much easier to swallow.

Which leads me into this week. Where I have been suffering from cold all week. My nose feels like it has been blocked up by concrete and on Monday & Tueday night I came home, had something to eat and basically went to bed, when I couldn't do anything else. My head is starting to clear, but this didn't really help on Tueday. My boss had to dash off early as his dad had a massive stroke and was in intensive care in Liverpool. I took all his workload for the day and ended up leaving work really late. I missed cadets, which was annoying as we had a VIP turning up and he squadron needed as much help as possible.

I'm hoping the later part of this week will settle down. I could do with somedays where nothing happens. For a change anyway. ;-)

Anime Music Video (AMV) of the Day: ~

The Rest of It...

Although the weekend actually started on the Friday for me. I took the day off (mainly in response to working my butt off, while my boss was away the week before). So in the words of the immortal Homer S ~ "Woohoo 3 day weekend!"

Friday was basically jobs day. I travelled into Leeds to take my electric razor to be fixed. I know it's been awhile since that actually broke, however it took until last week to convince the manufacturer that it was actually broken. Trying not to be too sarcastic, but when you press the "on" button and the device remains "off" that fits my description of "broken". I've had to leave it with them, but the bloke at the counter basically told me that the "Washable Razor" wasn't actually water resistant!

Bit of a design flaw methinks.

I also pre-ordered a Wii (yes pronounced We). Going into a shop and asking for one of those is probably just as embarrasing as blokes buying condoms or tampons. For those not in the know it is the next generation game console from Nintendo. I admit it, I'm still a computer game playing geek, but seen as how I don't smoke or drink, I need at least one vice.

The rest of Friday was basically filled cleaning the house. When I clean, I clean everything. So that took most of the afternoon. The evening saw me travel west to Manchester on the daily carpark known as the M62. To be fair tt wasn't that bad, however for those poor souls travelling east, let's just say ti would of been quicker to travel by camel.

The rest of my weekend was spent in the delightful company of Dave and Simon, where we discussed Wittgenstein over a game of backgammon...

... okay we spent the weekend eating lots of junk food, watching sport and playing computer games. We did attempt the Times Crossword and we did leave the house to go into Manchester (resulting in my previous entry). But overall it was an enjoyable weekend. Hopefully I'll have a few more before November which promises to be a bsy month!

That's a new one...

... excuse that is!

The excuse in question was "I'm sorry mate, I just got up too early this morning." Why is it that even though you've never met them, some people still insist on calling you mate? Anyway back to the excuse in question. These were the first words of the guy who ran into the back of my car in Stockport on Satruday lunchtime. Luckily there were no dents, but the paint work at the back of my car is now scratched and scuffed.

To be fair he was very apologetic about it all. I need to find out how much it is going to cost to fix and then send him the bill. He doesn't want to go through his insurace company he was desperate to keep his no clais bonus. Something I can sympathise with having lost mine once already.

Still what an excuse eh? There are a number of really angry and cutting remarks that filled my head at that point, but I frankly didn't see the use in venting any of them. The damage (literally) was already done. I just wished he'd stayed in bed rather than get behind the wheel of a car. My back bumper is a paltry thing compared with... maybe a child instead.

Lyrics of the Day:

So tomorrow there will be another number,
for the one who had a name.
A desert wind and a perverse desire to win,
history buried in shame.

Are those beating drums,
celebration guns.
The thunder and the laughter,
The last thing they remember.

And then the next day,
how will you know your enemy,
by their colour or your fear.
One by one you can cage them in your freedom,
make them all disappear.

Are those beating drums,
celebration guns.
The thunder and the laughter,
The last thing they remember.

Goodnight, sleep light, stranger

Celebration Guns ~ Stars (I like the whole song, so sue me!)